How to Carry a Legacy
by The Darkness Factor
Summary: Taking a deep breath, aware of just how idiotic this is, she screams, "Hulk!" into the comm before she jumps.


**A/N:** This one is probably one of my favorite Marvel fics... well, ever. The prompt was for brucenat + either "Don't you ever do that again!" or "Hey, have you seen the...? Oh."

I really loved it. Mostly because Widow!Cap might be my favorite headcanon.

* * *

"Heads up!"

Natasha barrels through two of the Kree soldiers, using the shield to keep their fists from raining down on her. A moment later, and the two aliens are pulled out of the way by Wanda, who sends her a disapproving look before zooming elsewhere to deal with more of the Kree. Natasha hears Sam yell something on the comm, but she's distracted by the line of six Kree that now stand between her and the Kree vessel.

"I'm going for one of the ships," she yells over the pandemonium.

"Are you crazy?" hollers Rhodes. "We can't cover you - "

"Shut the hell up. Keep these guys from hurting civilians, War Machine."

Natasha flings the shield with a roar that barely sounds human, knocking the first of the six off his feet. They're smarter than Chitauri, and more patient; they don't break formation to go after her. Natasha closes in on them, aware that she's moving too fast to slow down, and catches the shield just before she slams into one of them full-on, jamming her baton in the armpit and watching him twitch. The shield is enough to cover her from the one on the left, but all she has for the one on her right is her leg; she gets a good kick at his jaw, but it's not enough, and she's soon being dragged off by the others.

Natasha goes limp; her sudden lack of resistance is enough to catch them off guard, and she rips herself out of their grasp in time to cover herself with the shield. One of their guns hits it, jarring her; she lashes out with her baton and drops another Kree after a few moments of electrocution. There are three left now, all stronger than her, but also slower. Natasha smirks, wiping blood from her nose; she's between them and the ship, now, and she sprints for it, knowing they have no hope of catching her in time.

She slams her hand down on the button to close the ship's door behind her. One of the Kree gets stuck in the door, so she throws the shield to dislodge him.

"Widow!" calls Sam. "I hope you got a plan for these things - Scarlet Witch is down!"

"Vision, get her out of there!" Natasha shouts.

"Of course, Widow."

"War Machine, Falcon, you guys see the Hulk anywhere?"

There's a moment of static, then Barnes' gruff voice comes on. "I've got a visual on him. He's busting his way through a line of Kree on the south side of the compound."

"Alright. Can you lead him to the nearest Kree ship? Keep it distracted. Those of you who can fly, find the other Kree ships and do the same. Vision, is Wanda safe?"

"Affirmative. She'll be fine."

"Good. Then you do the same as the others."

"What're you up to, Widow?" asks Barnes. "I swear to god, if you pull a Steve -"

Natasha ignores him. It's not hard to figure out how to start the Kree ship; her takeoff is a little shaky, but she manages to get up and over the battle zone. She sets her sights on the Kree flagship hovering in the sky, zooming towards it as best as she can. The comm chatter becomes louder as the others all seem to realize what she's doing. Natasha sets the autopilot, satisfied that there are no obstacles between her and the lead ship, and then hurries to the back of the Kree fighter, opening the back door and nearly being blown over.

Taking a deep breath, aware of just how idiotic this is, she screams, "Hulk!" into the comm before she jumps.

There is a moment of exhilaration after she leaps - the wind is rushing through her ears, and the battleground below is a canvas of bursts of orange light and gray buildings - where she hears nothing, but then there is an answering roar somewhere to the northeast, and a green speck comes bounding towards her. Her teammates are screaming in her ear; even Wanda has joined in, injured but not unconscious, it would seem. The Hulk looks up at her, falling faster by the second, and waits until the right moment before he jumps.

Natasha braces herself for when they both hit the ground, rolling out of his arms gracelessly. A massive explosion above her tells her that the Kree warship has fallen, and the other Kree around them realize it too, because they start yelling in their own language and fleeing to their ships. Natasha allows herself an exhausted smile. It's not a complete victory - the military compound that the Kree had been attempting to overrun has sustained a lot of damage - but there haven't been any deaths.

She says as much to a furious Barnes, who stalks over to her once the last of the Kree have cleared out.

"Except maybe yours, you goddamn idiot!" he spits. "I need a fuckin' drink."

The Hulk peers at her, his face unusually close to hers, before he huffs and sits down. Natasha blinks; it's a rare day that the lullaby doesn't need to be used, but a moment later Bruce is sitting in the middle of the wreckage, giving her an unnerving look.

The others make their way over as well, all of them looking ready to murder Natasha where she stands. Natasha grips the shield more tightly, putting on an expression not unlike a stone mask, and silently dares any of them to say anything.

There's a moment of tense silence, then Sam sighs and mock-salutes her.

"Might've been batshit crazy, but it was a good plan," he admits. Rhodes nods reluctantly. Vision looks more curious than angry, but he doesn't say anything either. Barnes starts mumbling to himself, kicking at a discarded Kree helmet.

Bruce stumbles to his feet. Natasha moves automatically to help him, taking his weight even though she suddenly feels like she might keel over herself.

"Where's Wanda?" she asks.

"Back with the quinjet," Vision answers. "It was far enough away."

"The military'll want a debrief," Rhodes says, his own exhaustion coloring his voice. "Widow -"

"I'll handle it," she says. "Everyone else, head back to base. Get some food, and some rest. If you're wounded, go see Dr. Cho. No arguments."

"Think I'll stick around for the debrief, Nat," Sam says. "That okay?"

Natasha nods. She's too wrung out to argue. She hands Bruce off to Vision, not sure what to make of the scrutinizing way he keeps staring at her, and places the shield on her back. Sam walks silently next to her, looking as exhausted as she feels. She's grateful that he doesn't comment on her reckless move.

Instead he asks, "Wanda and I were thinking about doing a movie night tomorrow. That sound good to you?"

Natasha bumps his shoulder. "Always does."

* * *

By the time she and Sam get back to base, she's feeling all of the grime in addition to the aches, and she spends at least thirty minutes standing in the shower, alternating between scrubbing herself clean and enjoying the spray. She changes into pajamas and walks into her sitting room to find Bruce already there, also in pajamas.

"Hey," she says.

Bruce nods back, but doesn't greet her. "There's food in the microwave," he says instead.

Natasha stalls in the kitchen - pretends to have trouble finding a fork to use (they were all washed yesterday), and then takes her time pouring herself a glass of water - unsure of what was in store for her. A lecture? One of his I'll-wait-until-you're-ready-to-talk-about-it stares? Her eyes land on the shield, sitting innocuously in the corner of the room, as she sits across from Bruce.

"Thanks for the food." She pauses. "This isn't about you and me and trusting yourself again, is it?"

"Not this time," he acknowledges. "I've learned my lesson. The Hulk caught you, and I trusted him to do it. But there was always the chance that I wouldn't have heard you - or that someone wouldn't have heard you, and then you'd be a spot on the ground right now."

Natasha keeps eating, and avoids his eyes.

Bruce gives a rueful laugh. "There are some days when I wish Steve hadn't passed it on to you. Not that you don't deserve it, Natasha; I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. All the same… I could say, 'Don't you ever do that again', but I know there's not much use in that."

"I don't want to die, Bruce."

"I'm not saying that." He reaches out and grips one of her hands in his. "But sometimes I think you feel like you have to. Maybe because it's what he did, or maybe for some other reason."

This time, Natasha does look at him. He's right about some things. There are days where she feels like she might be waiting for her end to come, because she's the leader of the Avengers, and there's very little she wouldn't do for her teammates. But she can't make any promises to him. This is who she is now. The shield is hers, and in turn that makes her a shield all on its own.

"I'm not Steve," she says. "I know that. But his legacy is too important, Bruce. I have to carry that the best way I can. I've talked to Sam and Barnes about it, a bit. They've both told me that there isn't a whole lot more I can do."

Bruce nods. She, in turn, thanks whatever deity brought him back into her life.

"Okay, well…" He falters for a moment. "Um, I should probably go to bed before I fall out of this chair. Coming?"

"You bet your cute ass." Bruce blushes, but it fades when Natasha sidles up to him and presses a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Thanks for being here."

They cling to each other a little more tightly that night, but their sleep is sound.


End file.
